Eddie Redmayne’s stage fright
Eddie Redmayne got "complete stage fright" using a wand in ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’.
The 34-year-old actor – who plays magizoologist Newt Scamander in the JK Rowling-penned movie – admits he was incredibly nervous about picking up a wand to use on set.
He said: "It was so weird. Because when you get to pick up a wand, your inner nine-year-old is having the best moment of his life. ‘Oh my god. I get to use one of these!’
"And then you pick one up and go, ‘Oh. Why does this feel so weird? What do I do with it?’ I got complete stage fright!"
And Eddie loved being able to meet up with JK Rowling to discuss the character but admits he was a little "in awe" of her.
He added: "I was lucky enough to meet her just before we started filming. At that point I was so in awe of her. I wanted to be all, ‘Lovely to meet you!’ but we only had an hour so I just went, ‘So, Newt?’
"You can ask her anything. Any detail from the smallest nuance. She is so in love with her characters. By that point I’d done so much work on who Newt was, and it was two people just talking at each other. It was so helpful."
There was one thing the father-of-one – who has four-month-old daughter Iris with his wife Hannah Bagshawe – wanted to perfect for his role as Newt – the walk.
He told SFX magazine: "When [JK Rowling] describes Newt walking through the streets of New York, she describes him as walking to his own rhythm. There’s a Buster Keaton vibe quality, she wrote. So I actually decided to work with this guy called Alex Reynolds who’s a dancer by trade. Newt has a unique physicality that was very specific to him."
